"Coming Into The New Year, The Salary Issue Is Urgent" - Teachers
Unions representing teachers Wednesday said the salary issue is urgent and should be resolved before schools reopen in the new year.
Their remarks come after Finance and Economic Development Minister, Professor Mthuli Ncube said the government wouldn’t raise salaries as demanded by civil servants adding that the government tried its best to improve the salaries given the circumstances.
Public sector workers want pay hikes and have spent the past three years calling on the government to pay them their pre-October 2018 United States dollar salaries of around US$540.
Throughout 2022, civil servants have been demanding a pay hike. Yesterday, some teachers’ unions said the parallel market rate was now $1 100 to US$1, which called for Ncube to pay teachers in US$.
Zimbabwe Teachers Association president Richard Gundani said it was unfortunate that Ncube was claiming that civil servants were well paid. He told NewsDay:
That statement is inaccurate; he should have said since I cannot pay them — they must stop going to work. This thing is always two-fold because when people go to work they get a salary, which is an enabler for them to continue to go to work. Coming into the new year, the salary issue is urgent and must be resolved to ensure good service delivery. The minister must know that service delivery must not be compromised. His statement that he has already incentivised civil servants is very unfortunate.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure said there is likely to be a massive brain drain if the government does not pay teachers a living wage.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general Raymond Majongwe said the finance minister must use the surplus he “boasts of every time” to pay “the poor civil servants.”
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